Gede Ruins

Only two hours from Mombasa, Malindi is popular with vacationing Italians. Hotels are villas, pizza is delicious and the even beach boys speak Italian. But I had a reason for venturing back onto the beaten path into little Italy by the sea, other than lounging on the beach. Not far from Malindi are the Gede Ruins (pronounced geday). I have always wanted to see the ancient Mayan ruins of Mexico and Guatemala and Gede is just off the main coast road.

From the 13th to the 16th centuries, Gede was a thriving coastal town of 2,500 people. Controlled by Omani sultans, its citizens traded for goods from all over the known world, from Chinese pottery and china, Venetian glass, Spanish scissors and Indian iron lanterns. It had a tight urban core for the wealthy, much like Lamu Town with homes overlapping sidewalks and connecting through and across narrow alleys. Its interwall protected the wealthy in their stone homes while the outer wall protected the middle class’s wooden homes. The poor lived outside the walls, left at the mercy of the Oromo tribes, nomads from the interior.

Inside the mosque, the imam's voice was magnified by the holes

In terms of buildings, there was a grand mosque for worship. The iman knelt or sat in a small, hollowed out chamber in front of the worshippers. His voice was augmented by small, hollowed out circles in the wall which have since sadly been replaced by microphones and loudspeakers (Islam is a great religion but broadcasting it loudly at early morning hours over loudspeakers takes away from 1,400 years of grandeur and tradition.). The mosque had a large men’s worshipping area but only a small, separated women’s section. Outside, a well provided water for a trench which leads to a storage tank used for worshippers to cleanse themselves before prayer. Other wells with trenches are for drinking. Clay pots and large, underground cisterns keep water cool.

There was also a large palace for Gede’s ruler and his four wives. The palace had its own air conditioning system which drew cool water from underground cisterns up to dispense cool air on the ruler and his subjects entering the palace. The ruler could entertain visitors in a large waiting room while the wives could do the same in a much smaller room. Front doors are flanked by two benches in an alcove, made for women to entertain their guests without letting them inside if men were not home.

Air Conditioning hole for a ruler

After about 400 years of continuous settlement, Gede was abandoned sometime in the 16-17th centuries but reasons for this are unclear. Repeated attacks by Oromo tribes could be the reason. More likely, water or lack of water was the culprit. A large river changed its course, living Gede stranded several miles inland without its important connection to the ocean. The water table dropped, leaving wells in the town to dry up. My guide Pili had a theory that the proximity of latrines to water cisterns and wells had something to do with the diseases with plagued the town.

King's burial tomb

Overall, it was amazing to see how little some of the basic features of Gede’s houses have remained in Lamu Town’s homes, many only 150 years old. Coral walls are still bound together with a type cement while same rounded doorways are used for visitors. Many of the newer homes in Lamu Town continue to follow the old style, not just of Lamu Town but of the Gede all the way from at least the 12th century.